You Want 4 Tablespoons of Thick Tomato Catsup with Those Eggs?

When Bon Appetit got nominated a few weeks back for four of the James Beard Foundation’s Journalism awards, plus a National Magazine Award in the General Excellence category, our man in New Orleans, Brett Martin, was kind enough to send his congratulations along with the recipe pictured above. It originally ran in the New York Herald Tribune, back in the 1930s or ’40s, Brett surmises. The recipe sounded odd enough–and tasty enough–that we figured the BA Test Kitchen ought to get on the case. We had to find out whether “Epicurean Scrambled Eggs” (and its four tablespoons of “thick tomato catsup”) withstood the test of time. Oh, and one more thing: Credit for getting the recipe framed goes to Brett’s girlfriend, Kira. Brett’s a worldly, cultured sort of guy and all, but he ain’t that worldly. -Adam Rapoport, Editor in Chief

The verdict: “The second I saw this recipe, I thought of cigar-munching heavyweights power-breakfasting in elegant three-piece suits in oak-paneled rooms. The second I tasted it, I thought, ‘I haven’t had this much ketchup with my scrambled eggs since I was five years old!’ Makes me wonder what folks will think about our granola-, smoothie-, and muesli-laden breakfasts 70 years from now.” –Hunter Lewis, Food Editor